what more can i say | rini au

26.

seeing nini laying there curled up against ricky's chest, the two asleep on the couch together, aspen's jaw admittedly does drop a bit. she knew nini said she needed to go see someone before they left, but she'd also expressed just how angry she still was with ricky.

but then ricky and nini had never truly been simple.

she and big red don't wake them up before they can take a picture, because what kind of best friends would they be not to get at least one, but their other friends were waiting for them outside, so aspen moved to carefully nudge them awake.

"ricky, nini, time to get up..." she says, trying not to be too loud as to startle them and wind up getting hit accidentally, but loud enough to wake them too, or at least one of them.

ricky's eyes open halfway, and he starts to move to get up when he accidentally knocks his head into nini's.

a string of swear words are exchanged between the pair before they truly acknowledge one another beyond the pain of the impact.

aspen's not sure how much transpired between the time she left nini and when nini fell asleep, but it was also clearly not nothing.

big red was definitely thinking the same as he nudges her arm, grinning at aspen who returns that same smile.

"if you two are feeling okay we've got to get going, howie and kourtney are waiting for us." aspen tells the pair, looking between them as they stand up, hands clasped together like they were bound.

"i think we're good to go." nini nods, ricky smiling down at her before nodding as well.

"i'm good, yeah." he agrees, and with that the four teens make their way back out to the driveway and then to the car.

the problem of seats is resolved differently this time though, given ricky's situation earlier, he needs space, so sitting nini on top of his lap isn't quite going to work.

instead, they take two trips, big red waiting with ricky and nini in the driveway as aspen takes kourtney and howie back to big red's, and then aspen came back to collect the rest of them.

—

they all wind up piling into sleeping bags on the floor for the most part, besides big red in his bed, and ricky on the couch. he'd said he would sleep on the floor, but aspen didn't think that was a good idea considering.

he didn't typically like to be coddled, he wasn't raised to expect that sort of thing, but it's still nice to be taken care of when you need it.

by morning, much like how aspen found them on the couch in the caswell's house, kourtney finds that ricky and nini are curled up in the same sleeping bag, laying on the couch fast asleep.

it's around 9am when kourtney gets up and sets to properly scrubbing the rest of her makeup off, glad to have her overnight bag with her.

the others wake at varying times, some staying awake, others doing some small task and falling back asleep some time later.

it's not until it's around noon that everyone's properly up and about.

--

if anyone else had caught ricky and nini in their more intimate behavior, no one said anything, least of all ricky or nini themselves. better not to call attention to something they couldn't yet qualify with words. 

big red was making eggs in the kitchen upstairs with potatoes and various additions like mushrooms, cheese, and green onion. the friends all sort of gather around the bar, seated at it or standing nearby, letting the ginger cook without much protest as to his selections.